Field



Feb. 5 i924. 1,482,427

- s. u rlN FEEDING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 7, 1923 2 She'ets-Sht 1 I INVENTOR I BY M wu ATTORNEYS Feb. 5 1924. 1,482,427

"S. BOUTIN EEEDING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM Fiied Feb. 7. 192s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 5, 1924:.

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STANLEY oomer-,or SrEmeEiEI n, MaSSAonUsErrs, nssrs-nonro WILLIAM E. GILBERT, GEORG E. EMESALL, Ann HAROLD noonuroarn, TRUSTEES, Dome BUSINESS AS nooxwoarn cnia'rn a MANUFACTURING oonrnnr, 0E srnrna FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

FEEDING Ann EELivERInG MECHANISM.

Application filed February 7, 1923. Serial N6. 617,633.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known thatI, STANLEY BOUTIN, citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Feeding and Delivering Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for feeding or delivering articles, and the invention is capable of general application when itis desired to deliver or feed articles separately and in a single column or columns. The form of the invention at present preferred is concerned with the feed ing or delivering flat thin articles such as the side plates used on roller chains.

One particular use for which the device may be advantageously used is in the delivering or feeding of plates to a sorting apparatus for sorting the said plates, and the invention is shown in the drawings as being connected to and operable by the sorting apparatus disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 606,995, filed December 1 1, 1922. l

In" the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the 'drawings,'- 1

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of thedevice;

Fig; 2 is a detail section througha portion of the hopper bottom along the line 2-2 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 3 is asimilar detail section on a larger Scale and showing the entrance of the exit slot in an expanded position;

Fig; 4; is an end elevation of the hopper; Fig. 5is a perspective view of the receiving end of the delivery chute; M Fig. 6 is a cross-Sectional view taken the line:66 of Fig. 1;

ffthe feeding hopper Fig. 7 is a plan view 0 with end portions thereofcut away Fig. 8nis a cross-sectional view through the hopper on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 and Fig. 9 is a perspective view" of a roller chain side plate .such as is adapted to be handled by the device.

Referring nioreparticularly to the drawings the apparatus is Shownjcon'nected to and operated by a sorting machine, to which the'japparatus separately delivers the Side plates previously referredto. members of the SOFlZlllgfHlitChlIle are rep- Supporting 8 to the sorting machine or other point of delivery.

The feeding hopper 5 may be of any suitable box-like construction with a substantially fiat bottom and having an open top, and each end of the hopper may be partially covered at the top by overhangingportions 9 and 10. The hopper is mounted by pivotal bearings 4 that are integral with a suitable racket 1 secured to the underside of the hopper. The pivots iare suitably mounted in u rights 3 which are in turn secured in a uitable manner to the supports 2 of the sorting machine. The hopper is thus mounted to facilitate its being rocked back and forth for agitating and sliding the plates contained in the hopper. The means for rocking the hopper consist in the present embodiment of a rocking member 11 pivoted at 11 on the main frame and having a cam roll 12 riding on a cam 13 which is fixed to the shaft 14. The outer end of said rocking lever 11 is connected by rod 15 to saidhopper andsuitable means such as a turn buckle is provided on the rod I 15 for adjusting its length and varying the through the bottom of the hopper. Each exit slot 19 is preferably formed in alinement with the rear bottom portion 17 and is of such size as to permit only one article or plate at a time to pass therethrongh. It will be'observed from Fig. 2 that the receiving end of a discharge chute 8 is located adjacent the outer end of each exit slot 19.

In order to prevent a plate improperly alined with said exit slot 19- from j amming therein and clogging the same, means are provided for periodically expanding the entrance to said slot whereby any plate caught therein will be released during the rocking of the hopper. This expansion of the entrance to said exit slot 19 preferably takes place on the backward rocking movement of the hopper 5, that is, when the rear end of said hopper is down. The expansion of said exit slot is accomplished as follows: Yieldingly mounted at the exit slot is a guard plate 20 the upper side of which is flush with the front bottom portion 18 and the under side of which forms the top wall of the entrance to said slot 19. The plate 20 is fixed to studs 21 which extend through the bottom portion 17 of said hopper and is nor-' mally held down to the position shown in Fig. 2 by compression springs 23 surrounding said studs 21. The guard plate 20 when in its lower position is spaced from the bot tom of the slot 19 barely suflicient to allow a single article or plate to slide thereunder and the sharp forward edge of said guard plate 20 diverts other plates than the one passing thereunder to the forward bottom portion of said hopper. The raising movement is periodically imparted to the guard plate 20 by means of a rocking lever 24 pivoted at 25 on the hopper bottom and con nected at its rear end by a rod 26 to the rock ing lever 11. A turn buckle 27 may also be provided in the rod 26 for adjusting its length and the rocking movement of the lever 24. The forward end of said lever 24: engages a pin plunger 25 slidably mounted and guided through the bottom 17 and having its upper end in engagement with the plate 20.

The rear bottom portion 17 of the hopper is preferably formed with one or more straight channel-like grooves 28 there being as many of such channel grooves as there are exit slots 19 and discharge chutes 8. Each of said channel grooves is formed as a .-ontinuation of its exit slot 19 so as to direct plates which lie in said channel groove toward such exit slots through the forward rocking movement of the hopper. The chan nel groove 28 is of such dimensions as to permit only a single row or column of plates to lie fiatwise therein, this being accom plished by providing the depth of the channel grooves barely in excess of the thickness of an article or plate B and its width barely in excess of the width of a plate. Cleats 22 of any desired shape are also provided upon thebottom portion 17 of the hopper so'as to divert the plates that are being agitated back and forth in said hopper into said channel grooves 28. A stop pin 29 is arranged so as to protrude periodically into each channel groove and said stop pins are preferably mounted adjacent the entrance to the exit slots 19 so as to assist in clearing any jam of plates that might occur at said entrance. The rocking of the hopper periodically alines each channel groove 28 and exit slot 19 with its respective discharge chute 8 as shown in Fig. 2 and the stop pins 29 are moved into the channel groovesso as to block the plates in said channel groove from sliding out said exit slots until just at the time said exit slots are properly alined with the discharge chutes 8. The pins 29 are then withdrawn to permit the plates P to slide into the discharge chutes 8. The pins 29 are preferably guided through the bottoms 17 of the hopper'and are loosely connected at their lower ends to a rocking plate 30 which is pivoted at 37 to suitable brackets 37 secured to the bottom of the hopper. Compression-springs 29 surround each pin 29 and serve to cushion the upper movement imparted to the pin or plate 30 and further functions to, allow the pin to yield without striking a jam of plates. The rocking plate 30 is moved or rocked by the following means; a link 31 is pivotally connected at 30 to the plate 30 and to earn lever 32 which in turn is pivoted at 33 on a suitable bracket carried by the sorting machine. A bearing member 35 is carried by the lever 32 which bears upon the cam 36. fixed to the,

shaft 1 1. Thus a rotating movement of the cam will raise the lever 32 upwardly to rock the plate 30. i

In operation the number of articles or plates may be placed within the hopper and are slid back and forth. along the bottom of said hopper by the rocking movement thereof which action causes a supply of plates to find their way into the channel grooves 28, thence, out of the exit slots 19 and down the discharge chutes 8 to the point of delivery.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a

feeding, hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove formed therein of such dimensions as to permit only asingle row of plates to lie fiatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, and means for rocking said hopper to slide said plates into said channel groove and toward said exit slot.

2. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove of such dimensions as to permit only a single row of plates to lie fiatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, and means carried by the hopper for agitating the plates in said hopper to direct the same into said channel groove and out of said exit slot 3. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove therein of such dimensions as to permit only a single row of plates to lie fiatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, a stationary discharge chute with its receiving end adjacent said exit slot, and means for rocking said hopper to periodically aline the channel groove in said hopper with said discharge chute.

4. In a machine ofthe class described, a

feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, an exit slot formed through the bottom of the hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough,

means for rocking said hopper back and forth to direct the plates therein from and toward said exit slot, and agitating devices Working in said hopper adjacent the entrance to said exit slot.

5. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, an exit slot formed through the bottom of the hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, means for rocking said hopper back and forth to feed the plates therein from and toward said exit slot, and agitating devices working in said hopper adjacent the entrance to said exit slot.

6. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, an exit slot formed through the bottom of the hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, means for rocking said hopper back and forth to feed the plates therein from and toward said exit slot, and means for periodically enlarging said exit slot during the backward rocking movement of said hopper.

7. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove and of such dimensions as to permit only a single row of plates to lie fiatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, a sta' tionary discharge chute with its receiving end adjacent said exit slot, means for rocking said hopper back and forth to periodically aline the channel groove in said hopper with the discharge cuts, and a yieldingly mounted cover plate for the receiving end of said chute.

8. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove of such dimensions as to permit only a single row of plates to lie fiatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, a stationary discharge chute with its receiving end adjacent said exit slot, means for rocking said hopper back and forth to periodically aline the channel groove in saidhopper with the chute, and a plunger moving in and out of said channel groove of said hopper adjacent the entrance to said exit slot.

9. In a machine of the class described, a feeding hopper for containing a supply of plates, the bottom of said hopper having a channel groove of such dimensions as to permit only a single row of plates to lie flatwise therein, said channel groove leading to an exit slot formed through the bottom of said hopper of such size as to permit one plate at a time to pass therethrough, a stationary discharge chute with its receiving end adjacent said exit slot, means for rocking said hopper back and forth to periodically aline the channel groove in said hopper with the chute, a plunger moving in and out of said channel groove of said hopper adjacent the entrance to said exit slot, and means for periodically enlarging said exit slot during the backward rocking movement of said hopper.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature. 4

STANLEY BOUTIN. 

